Sea creatures or Land creatures?
by mr.finkles-parade
Summary: When Spongebob and Sandy have a fight about whether sea creatures or land creatures are better, they go a little too far. Sandy dares Spongebob to go above water for 5 minutes... but he's gone for much longer than that. What happened to Spongebob? R&R -
1. Which one is better?

**A/N: The beginning is very similar to an episode, but the story works off of it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Spongebob Squarepants or any of the related characters. **

"Nuh-uh! Land creatures are far more superior," argues Sandy Cheeks. "What's so important about what you sea critters can do?"

"Well, Sandy, for your information, what we 'sea critters' can do is very important. We can breath without a helmet!" Spongebob Squarepants answered.

Spongebob and Sandy stood in the middle of the legendary fast food restaurant, the Krusty Krab, home of the Krabby Patty. They were debating whether sea creatures or land creatures were better. We all know that they are both equally great, but Spongebob and Sandy beg to differ.

"Psh! This old thing?" Sandy said, pointing to her air helmet. "I don't need this!" And with that, Sandy removed her helmet.

10 seconds passed.

"You know, you're gonna need to breath any moment now," Spongebob said, with a widening- and might I add, satisfactory- grin on his face.

Sandy tried to ignore Spongebob, but it felt like her lungs were about to burst. She waited as long as she could, but couldn't go very long. She grabbed her helmet and stuffed it back on her head.

Spongebob laughed his famous laugh as Sandy took several deep breaths, trying to refill her lungs.

"It's not funny!" Sandy shouted.

Soon everyone in the whole restaurant burst into laughter, staring and pointing and then laughing some more. She heard cries of "Ha! Dumb land creature! Can't even breath underwater!", and "Stupid air-breather…"

"Fine! I bet that you can't go above water for five mintues!" Sandy said.

"Ha! Piece of cake!" Spongebob replied.

"Okay! Let's go then!" Sandy said, and led Spongebob out the restaurant.

When Sandy and Spongebob reached the part of Bikini Bottom that goes uphill onto land, Spongebob looked up nervously, almost seeming as though he was going to back out and let Sandy win the bet. Sandy stood next to him with her thumb hovering above the 'start' button on her stopwatch.

No, I can't let her win! Spongebob thought. He squared his shoulders, puffed out his chest, and ran up the hill, shouting "Sea creatures rule!!"

He popped up out of the water with a splash, but was immediately smashed by a wave. He got twirled upside down, backwards and then upside down once more.

Woooo!! Yeah! This is great! Spongebob thought, rather optimistically. This is so easy! I'll win this bet in no time!

And just as Spongebob was beginning to enjoy his ride, the sensation stopped, as Spongebob washed up ashore.

Just as this was happening, a little boy was scooping up a large bucket of wet sand when he saw Spongebob. To the boy, Spongebob appeared as, well, just a sponge.

"Oh cool!" He exclaimed.

He picked it up and rushed over to where his mom sat relaxing in a beach chair reading a magazine.

"Hey mom! Look what I found in the water! A yellow sponge! Cool, ain't it? Can I keep it?" The boy said excitedly to his mother.

His mom peered at him over the top of her sunglasses. "Jimmy, what's so special about a yellow sponge? And who knows where that's been! And no, you can't keep it!" she added on at the end, seeing her son about to say something, and she knew exactly what it was.

Jimmy walked away sadly holding his bucket. He dropped his bucket next to his sand castle building site, and walked slowly and sadly towards the water to put back the sponge. He looked at it longingly, and then glanced back at his mom. She was absorbed in her magazine again, completely oblivious to everything going on around.

Jimmy grinned. He had a plan. He was determined to have this yellow sponge, despite what his mom says. He squeezed the sponge tightly in his hand and hid it in the pocket of his swimming trunks.

Woah, there! This is a little bit more than I expected! Spongebob thought. And now I'm stuck in this enclosed… thing! He struggled around in Jimmy's pocket, but got absolutely nowhere.

Meanwhile, Sandy stood at the foot of the hill, keeping an eye on the top of the water to see of any signs of Spongebob giving up and one on the stopwatch.

Four and a half minutes… pretty good. Maybe he's tough enough to be live water and on land, Sandy thought. Well, there's still time for me to win.

On land, Jimmy trudged up the sand to where his mom still sat, and slipped Spongebob into his beach bag. He glanced nervously at his mom, sitting right next to him. She still didn't seem to notice.

Yes! Success! Jimmy thought and pumped his arm in the air.

Spongebob lay in the bag, wondering, Where am I? What's going on here? I need to get out!!

He twisted and turned in the bag, but once again, made no progress.

This is no good… how am I going to get out? Why is this happening?? I-… and then Spongebob realized who was doing all of this to him. Well, gee, I knew she wanted to win the bet, but she didn't have to go this far!

"Okay, Sandy! You can come out now! I've learned my lesson! It's all good!" Spongebob called out, expecting to be brought out of the bag and put back in the ocean.

There was no answer; just the shouting and talking of people, the crashing of waves, and the nearly non-existent sound of people turning the pages of their magazines.

Where is Sandy?


	2. Jimmy's Bag

Sandy Cheeks was getting worried. What happened to Spongebob? Why hadn't he come down? It was already seven minutes, and the bet was only five. He had won. What was the problem?

Then it hit her. Spongebob is trying to show me that sea creatures are better than land creatures, Sandy thought to herself. He already won! Arrogant little sponge… I'll get him!

"Spongebob! It's not funny anymore! I figured it out! You can come down now," Sandy shouted up to the surface.

No answer.

"Really, I get it."

Still no answer.

"Okay, fine. Come down when you feel like it," Sandy shouted again. She sat down at the bottom of the hill and waited.

Above the surface in Jimmy's bag, Spongebob was shouting out the same things that Sandy was shouting to him; "Come on, Sandy! Let me out now! I get it! Please!" The more they shouted out at each other (neither of them knowing that the other was saying the same thing), the more they felt sorry for the other person. They started understanding the other side of each other's story. Even though they understood now, there was nothing they could do about it. Spongebob was stuck in Jimmy's beach bag, and Sandy, or anyone else had any idea.

Spongebob was getting very worried and upset.

What do I do? Spongebob thought. How do I get out?

After minutes of thinking, Spongebob gave up. There's nothing I can do, I guess, Spongebob thought to himself. Well, I might as well use this time to sleep.

As this was happening, Sandy was getting nervous and scared. And guilty. Now she was starting to blame herself for everything that was happening.

But there was nothing she could do, because she had no idea what was happening. So she just sat and waited, and waited some more. Spongebob still didn't come down.

Above the water, Jimmy splashed around in the water and having fun, knowing that his cool water-sponge pet was safe in his bag.

"Jimmy! Time to go!" Jimmy's mom shouted as she put her magazine in a bag and started packing up her beach chair.

"Hold on a minute!" Jimmy called back.

"No, now!"

"Wait!"

"No, we have to go!"

"Fine!" Jimmy exclaimed, mumbling to himself his he stomped back to where his mom was packing up.

"Why do we have to go so soon?" Jimmy complained.

"Jimmy, we've been here for four hours. I wouldn't call that 'soon'."

"But-"

"Just be quiet and pack up your bag, okay?"

"Fine."

Jimmy was silent as he packed his bag, making sure not to drop something on his precious sea sponge.

Spongebob had fallen into a deep sleep.

He dreamt that a little kid was taking him away in a bag… well, at least he _thought_ it was a dream. That was reality.

As Jimmy left the beach, Sandy was by now, pretty worried about Spongebob. She was just about ready to go above the surface and look for him, but she knew it wasn't a good idea. She was afraid that someone had taken him.

Nah! Sandy tried to convince herself. No one could've taken Spongebob! He knows karate!

Sandy flashed back to the last time she saw Spongebob do karate.

Oh no. If he was depending on his karate someone must have taken him!

Sandy ran back to her tree dome and grabbed everything she needed for her trip up on land. She was being risky, because she usually took a bus, and the hill definitely doesn't go up to Texas, so she had no idea where to go when she got there.

Well, I've got to take the chance, Sandy thought. It's for Spongebob.

Sandy ran up the hill as fast as she could.

Swoosh!

Sandy was attacked by a huge wave. She got twirled and twisted and turned and flipped.

"What's going on here?" Sandy yelled.

"It's a wave," answered another voice.

"Spongebob?" Sandy asked excitedly.

"No, my name is Stanley."

"Well, do you know Spongebob?" asked Sandy.

"The little yellow sponge? Yes I saw him about an hour ago. He seemed to enjoy the waves…" answered Stanley.

"Well where'd he go?"

"Oh right. A little boy took him when he washed ashore," Stanley said as he swam forward towards Sandy. Just as she suspected, he was a fish. The kind that had legs and arms and clothes.

"Thank you Stanley!" Sandy said.

"You're very welcome," he said and started to swim away.

"Wait!" Sandy called out to him. "Would you like to come ashore with me?"

"Me? I'm a fish! Are you crazy?"

"No! Here's how it'll work. See this air helmet? If we fill it with water, you can breath up there! Spongebob and his friend Patrick would always wear them when they came to my tree dome house because it has air," Sandy answered.

"Well, I don't know… It seems a little risky…" Stanley said.

"Come on! It'll be great!" Sandy said. "Spongebob does it all the time!"

"Well, I suppose-" Stanley started.

"Great! Let's go then!" Sandy said and removed her air helmet and gave it to Stanley. He immediately put it on his head and a wave pulled them both up to the shore.

The sun shone brightly as Stanley and Sandy emerged from the water. They both looked around.

"So what did the boy look like?" Sandy asked.

"Well he- he looked like him!" Stanley exclaimed, pointing at Jimmy, who had somehow managed to keep his mom at the beach for a little bit longer.

"Great! Let's go after him then!" Sandy shouted, but by now it was too late. They were already walking up to the parking lot. Once they were in the car, how could they get Spongebob?

"They're going to the parking lot," Sandy said sadly. "But we can try and get them if we want."

"Let's try," Stanley said.

They started running as fast as they could, which was not very fast, because Stanley wasn't used to running in air.

Once they reached the parking lot, they saw Jimmy getting into his car.

"After him!" Sandy shouted and bounded across the parking lot with Stanley trailing behind. She grabbed his hand and ran so fast that Stanley's feet just occasionally touched the ground.

They jumped on the back of the car just as it was about to go. They held on to two bars they found as the car started to speed up.

"Just hold on," Sandy said.

"I am."

Sandy and Stanley held on for dear life, for all they could do was hope that they would come out alive.

The question is… would they?


	3. Land ho!

Underwater at Squidward Tentacle's house, he had noticed that Spongebob had not bothered him all day.

Hmm… Squidward thought. I wonder where Spongebob is.

He shrugged, closed his eyes and continued playing his clarinet, knowing that Spongebob's irritating laugh would interrupt him, but it didn't.

Squidward cracked open one eye and stared out the window to Spongebob's pineapple house. There were no bothersome noises or activities going on at all near Spongebob's house… Just peace and quiet.

Maybe Spongebob isn't here! Squidward thought happily. Maybe he went on a vacation! Forever! Yes! I should take advantage of this moment and savor it forever!

As hard as Squidward tried, he couldn't bring himself to have fun. He tried painting, playing clarinet, and anything else he could think of, but nothing worked. He actually started to get a little bit worried. It was just too good to be true.

Squidward still doubted that Spongebob had left Bikini Bottom without so much as a goodbye, so he got up and went to Patrick's house. That's where he was last time, Squidward thought. He was hiding from Sandy and made her think he was lost.

He knocked on the giant rock, and it swung open. There was Patrick Star, hanging onto the wall, sleeping.

"Patrick!" Squidward shouted.

"Wha-?" Patrick said sleepily, not before he had fallen on the sandy ground with a _thump!_ and a cloud of dust.

"Patrick, get up!" Squidward said, brushing himself off. "Have you seen Spongebob?"

"Uh, no, Squiddy, haven't seen him. Have you?" Patrick answered, slowly picking himself up.

"No, I haven't! That's why I came to ask you!"

"Oh,"

"So you haven't seen him?" Squidward asked again.

"Well… Oh yeah! He was over at the Krusty Krab, and he was fighting with Sandy about whether sea creatures or land creatures are better," Patrick started, trying to remember the rest of the story.

"Ha! It's obviously sea creatures! What is there to argue about?" Squidward said while brushing his fingernails (if he had them) on his shirt.

"Well, after that, Sandy dared Spongebob to go above water for five minutes, and that's all I heard because after that they left." Patrick concluded.

"Hmm… above water for five minutes… Well, why don't you come with me to see him win?" Squidward suggested.

"Sure!" Patrick said. "Wait- Let me just clean up the dust around here." He started dusting and blowing all around him.

"Patrick, its all dust!" Squidward said.

"Oh, yeah."

"Well, come on then! I don't wanna miss the look on Sandy's face when she loses! Oh, this is gonna be good!"

Above the surface of the water, Spongebob sat in Jimmy's bag, still asleep. Little did he know that not was he in Jimmy's car, but so were Sandy and Stanley, who were holding onto bars on the trunk of the car.

Sandy and Stanley held on to the large metal bars, wind blowing their faces as the car drove at about 60 miles per hour.

"Well I've ridden on a cow, but I've never done anything like this before!" Sandy said as she turned to Stanley, who had a completely horrified look on his face. "How 'bout you?"

Stanley just shook his head. He was too scared to think, let alone talk.

"Woohoo!" Sandy shouted as she let go with one hand.

"Dear Neptune! What are you doing?" Stanley asked. He had gotten a hold of his senses long enough to tell her she was crazy.

"Enjoyin' the ride!" Sandy replied.

The car suddenly slowed down, and then came to a complete stop. They had parked in Jimmy's driveway, and Sandy and Stanley now found it safe to climb off of the car.

The two car doors slammed in unison, and they both (Jimmy and his mom) walked down the paved stone pathway to the house.

Sandy and Stanley stayed behind long enough so that they didn't notice, but barely made it inside.

Jimmy threw his beach bag towards his bed, but missed. It landed on the floor with a crash.

Spongebob was awake now, partly because of the crash and partly because now he had shell stuck in his forehead. He quickly pulled it out and rubbed his head.

"Oops!" Jimmy said and hurried over to his bag.

He rummaged around inside until he found his precious sea sponge. He placed it on top of the huge, messy pile he had made inside of the bag and ran out of the room. He opened a door and dashed up the stairs, and returned carrying a fish tank.

With the heavy fish tank in his hands, he went as fast as he could to the bathroom and filled it up with water, and then practically falling under the weight of the tank, went back to his room and set it on an open place on the top of a low bookshelf.

He put Spongebob inside.

Ahh, this is much better, Spongebob thought, floating to the bottom. Now I can take a long relaxing nap… And with that, he drifted off to sleep.

"Jimmy! Where are you!" his mom called.

He franticly looked around the room, and eventually ended up tossing a shirt on top of the fish tank so that she didn't know he had taken the sponge.

"Coming!" he called and went out of the room.

Stanley and Sandy snuck into Jimmy's room because he had left the door open. Sandy looked at the tank and saw Spongebob inside through one of the places that the shirt did not cover.

"Come on, Stanley!" Sandy said and beckoned him closer. "He's in there!"

"That's not Spongebob," Stanley said without even looking.

"Yeah it is, it's Spongebob,"

He looked at the tank. "Oh yeah, that is Spongebob."

They ran to the bookshelf and climbed the shelves until the reached the top. With their strength combined (mostly Sandy's) they pulled the shirt off and got inside the tank.

"Helmet!" Sandy mouthed to Stanley as her face started turning blue.

"Oh right!" he said and removed the helmet.

Sandy put it on her head and pulled a lever that flushed all the water out.

"Much better, thank you."

"Sandy?" Spongebob said, waking up from his sleep.

"Spongebob!" she said and ran to hug him.

"How did you find me?" he asked.

"It's a long story," Stanley said.

"Well, I think we have time," Spongebob answered.


	4. Journey to the top of the hill

When Squidward and Patrick reached the hill that led up to land, they didn't see Sandy or Spongebob. They didn't see anyone. Or anything.

"Hm, maybe it's over. Mayhaps they went to the Krusty Krab to celebrate Spongebob's victory," Patrick suggested when they couldn't think of anything.

"Patrick, 'mayhaps' is not a word. Were you trying to say maybe or perhaps?" Squidward asked.

"Uhhhh… I dunno," Patrick replied.

"So should we head over to the Krusty Krab?" Squidward said, ignoring Patrick's comment.

"Sure."

They started the walk towards the Krusty Krab.

When they reached the building and went inside, they saw a crowd of people murmuring about something or other, and they managed to hear snippets of conversations. "Maybe they know," was one of them. Or, "Perhaps they can help us,".

They walked up to the cash register where Mr. Krabs stood looking around nervously.

"Uh, what's going on here Mr. Krabs?" Squidward asked.

"Didn't'cha hear, boy? Spongebob an' Sandy have gone missin'!" Mr. Krabs replied.

"So it wasn't just us who noticed…" Squidward said.

"Nope. We sent out search parties all over Bikini Bottom an' we've found no sign of 'em, Mr. Squidward."

"Well earlier today Spongebob was dared by Sandy to go up on land for five minutes, and I haven't seen them since then," Patrick said.

"Really? Well we're gonna need two brave young lads to do go check above land!" Mr. Krabs announced.

Everyone immediately filed out of the restaurant until it was just Squidward, Patrick and Mr. Krabs.

"Well, I guess it's up to you two boys," Mr. Krabs said, patting them on the shoulder. "Good look to ya!" he scurried off to his office.

"But Mr. Krabs!-" Squidward started, but Mr. Krabs slammed his door and interrupted his sentence.

"Well, we better get to it," Patrick said.

"I guess. But we're going to need some food to take on the long trip with us," Squidward said.

They went into the back of the restaurant and Squidward opened a huge door that said 'Patty Vault' in huge red letters. The door swung open and revealed millions of Krabby Patties.

"Grab a couple and put them in this bag," Squidward said, tossing Patrick a brown paper bag as he went looking for the two best Krabby Patties he could find.

They emerged from the Patty Vault four minutes later, Squidward with a neat paper bag in his right tentacle and Patrick with one Krabby Patty stuffed in his mouth and two smooshed in his paper bag.

They started off on their long journey up to the top, and went back to the hill.

"Why don't you go first?" Patrick suggested, stepping back.

"Ladies first," Squidward said gesturing his hand with a fake smile on his face.

"I insist," Patrick replied, and nudged Squidward forward.

"So do I," Squidward said, and pushed Patrick up the hill, with him following after.

They too got washed up in a wave, and met a fish. The fish was named Larry, and told them of Stanley and Sandy's conversation.

"Yeah, they went up to look for a sponge or something," Larry said.

"Thanks!" Squidward said as him and Squidward ran up to the surface.

"Your welcome!"


	5. Back so soon?

As Squidward and Patrick were about to get washed ashore, they got pulled back into the water by a big wave and saw Larry still sitting there.

"Hello, again," Larry said. "Oh yes! I forgot to tell show you something before…"

Larry pulled out a photograph and handed it to Squidward.

"It's a picture of the boy. I took a picture of him while he was over here getting the sponge. I always try and take pictures of as many people possible and put them in a scrapbook, but you need this photo more than I do. It's a long story, but just use it to find him to get your friend back, okay?"

"Okay, thanks!" Squidward said, and this time, made it through the wave with Patrick and came ashore.

"Um, how are we supposed to breathe up here?" Patrick asked, slowing down as they walked up the beach.

"Well, we can use… these!" Squidward said, and picked up two clear bottle caps that looked like they were meant for a plastic water bottle.

They ran as quickly as possible to the water, filled up the bottle caps, and put them on their heads.

"Ahh! Much better!" Patrick said, taking in a deep breath.

"Mhmm," Squidward replied.

"So let's see…" Squidward said, and pulled out the photograph Larry had given them, examining it very closely.

They scanned the beach, looking for a boy that matched the picture.

Jimmy and his mom came walking up the beach, yelling at him the whole time.

"Jimmy, how many times have I told you to always keep track of your stuff?" his mom said, extremely annoyed at the fact that they had to come all the way back to the beach just because his son forgot his goggles.

"A lot mom, a lot," Jimmy answered, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, we're here. Now find them. I'm not helping at all," his mom said and stopped at the place where they had been only an hour ago.

"Okay mom, I get it. I'll find them." Jimmy said and looked around, turning towards the water.

At that moment, Squidward saw his face and nudged Patrick.

"That's him! That's the boy!" Squidward said excitedly, jumping up and down, pointing at Jimmy, who was still looking for his goggles.

"Let's go for him, then!" Patrick said, and started running with Squidward, who was already ahead of him.

Jimmy bent down in the sand and picked something up.

"Oh there they are!" he said, showing his mom his goggles. "See, I told you I could find them!"

"I didn't say you couldn't, I just said I wasn't helping," she answered. "So if we're done here, we should go, alright? I have to get home and make dinner."

"Okay, we can go. But promise we'll come back soon?" Jimmy said as they started walking back to the parking lot with his mom.

"Yes," Jimmy's mom answered. "We can come back soon, alright? Just don't bug me about it."

"Okay."

Squidward and Patrick were right on their tail, trailing a mere yard and a half behind.

"We can do it!" Patrick whispered while running. "We can follow them home!"

"Let's go! We can only get there if we speed up!" Squidward answered, running a little bit faster.

As they all reached the car, Squidward and Patrick, still a couple yards away, Jimmy said, "Mom, can I climb in through the trunk? Please? It's a lot more fun!"

"Fine," his mom answered restlessly, too tired from the long day at the beach to really care at all anymore, and opened the trunk.

As Jimmy started to climb into the back seat from the trunk, Squidward whispered to Patrick, "This is our chance! We can get in without them knowing we're here! We have to climb in! Now!"

They ran up and climbed onto the car and managed to slip into the trunk just as his mom slammed it shut.

"Okay, we're safe. We got in. We'll make it there in no time. We just have to be alert and awake." Squidward said to a worn out Patrick who was slowly drifting off. "That means no sleeping, Patrick," and Patrick sat up, now, as Squidward had said, 'alert and awake'.

As the car drove steadily along, Jimmy sat in the back seat, thinking about his water sponge.

I wonder if he's okay, Jimmy thought. What kind of food does he need? Jimmy asked himself, forgetting for a moment that his sponge was a sponge, and sponges don't eat. He then asked himself the most important question of all: How will I keep him without my mom knowing?

The car stopped, and again, Jimmy climbed out, with Squidward and Patrick already behind him, following Jimmy into the house, hoping he would lead them to Spongebob.

What they didn't know as they followed Jimmy is that Sandy and Stanley had already come to rescue him.


	6. Jimmy's big night

"And as we came to the house we followed Jimmy to his room, and-" Sandy said.

"Wait. And who's Jimmy again?" Spongebob asked, confused by how fast Sandy was talking.

"Jimmy's the boy who took out of the water, remember?" Sandy answered.

"Yeah," Spongebob replied, nodding his head.

Sandy continued her story: "So anyway, we followed Jimmy to his room and we saw you in here, and I told Stanley, 'Hey there's Spongebob! In the tank!' and so we climbed up here and came inside, and so now here we are," Sandy said, now out of breath after her long story.

"I see," Spongebob said. "So you came here just for me?"

"Mhmm," Sandy said, nodding her head.

"And you came because Sandy told you to?" he asked Stanley.

"Mhmm," Stanley answered, nodding his head.

"And so now that you're here, we can go home, right?"

Sandy and Stanley exchanged glances and both said in unison, nodding their heads, "Mhmm."

"Well, thank you! That was really nice." Spongebob said, and gave them both hugs.

"So how are we going to get out of here?" Spongebob asked.

"I have no idea," Sandy replied, looking around the grimy fish tank.

And that started the beginning of a long search to find out how to climb up to the top and get them selves out, because they knew Jimmy definitely wasn't going to help them get out after all he did to get them in.

While this happened, Squidward and Patrick crept into Jimmy's room, while Jimmy talked to his friend Suzanna on the phone in the living room.

"In the tank! Up there, Patrick!" Squidward said, pointing.

They climbed up the bookshelf and managed to get on top of the fish tank. Sandy, Spongebob and Stanley were too preoccupied with finding out how to get out to notice.

When Patrick fell to the bottom with a crash with Squidward following close behind him, that's when everyone noticed.

"Spongebob! I'm so glad we found you! I-" Squidward started, but stopped when he saw Sandy.

"Sandy?" Squidward and Patrick said in unison.

"Squidward and Patrick?" Sandy said with an equal amount of surprise in her voice.

"What are you doing here?" Patrick asked.

"Well, I came here to get Spongebob, that's what I'm doing here! The real question is, what are you doing here?" Sandy replied.

"The same thing you're doing here!" Squidward answered, stepping forward.

"Well, the more the merrier!" Stanley chimed in. "We need help on figuring out how to get out of here before it's too late."

Jimmy then came through the door, talking on the phone.

"Quick, everyone! Hide!" Squidward whispered as they all scrambled to find a good hiding place; everyone in a corner, and Spongebob out in the middle, because he was the only one that was supposed to be there.

"Okay, yeah, okay, cool. Yeah, that's fine. Cool. So I'll meet you then. Okay. Bye." Jimmy hung up the phone.

"Yes!" Jimmy said, pumping his arm in the air and dancing around the room. "I'm going out to dinner with Suzanna, I'm going out to dinner with Suzanna!"

He then started getting ready for his 'big night'. He took a shower to get the ocean out of his hair, put on a plaid button-up shirt and his best pair of khakis. He combed his hair and made himself look presentable. He looked at himself in the mirror.

"Lookin' good!"

He then glanced at his watch. He was supposed to meet Suzanna at 7:30, and it was 7:00 now.

"Shoot, I gotta go!" Jimmy said, stuffing his shoes on his feet and running out of his bedroom.

"The coast is clear!" Spongebob whispered, glancing around the room to make sure Jimmy was gone.

"Looking pretty spiffy tonight, Jimmy-bear!" Jimmy's mom said.

"Mom, don't call me that, okay?" Jimmy said, fixing his hair in the mirror.

"Okay," he said, turning back to his mom. "I'm gonna need ten bucks for dinner."

"Ten?" she asked, looking around in her wallet. "Are you sure?" She fished out a ten and handed it to Jimmy. "Just give me any extra change, okay?"

"Okay, thanks mom!" Jimmy said, stuffing the ten in his pocket, giving her a kiss on the cheek and running out the door.

"Okay, have fun!" Jimmy's mom called.

"I will, don't worry!" he called over his shoulder as he hopped on his bike and started pedaling down the street to Town Pizza to meet Suzanna.


	7. Mission Escape

"Yes! Jimmy is out for the night! We have enough time to get ourselves out of here before he gets back!" Spongebob said when he was sure Jimmy was gone.

"I wonder who Suzanna is…" Patrick asked.

"Does it matter? Jimmy will be out for another hour at least, so that should give us enough time to figure out how to get out!" Sandy replied. "Okay, let's start thinkin'!"

The all thought and thought, tried and tried, thought and tried some more, but still, no one could think of anything.

"I can't think of anything," Stanley remarked, after hours of thinking and trying.

"Me either," Sandy answered.

"I'm blank," Squidward said.

"Too… much… use… of brain…" Patrick said, and fell over.

"I got nothing," Spongebob said.

"Well what do we do?" Sandy asked.

"Wait- I just got an idea!" Spongebob said.

"What is it?" everyone exclaimed at once.

"Okay, here's how it goes…"

At Town Pizza, Jimmy and Suzanna talked and laughed and ate and drank, and after they had paid for the meal, Jimmy said, "So Suzanna… Wanna come over to my house and see my new pet sponge? He's really cool. I found him at the beach today."

"Sure!"

They left a tip and got on their bikes.

Back at the house in the fish tank, Spongebob and the gang were working out their plan, or at least, trying to make it work.

"Okay, so if you could just get onto Sandy's shoulders…" Spongebob said, directing Stanley to climb on the huge tower of creatures. In Spongebob's mind, Sandy, who is the strongest, would be at the bottom of the tower, followed by Patrick, and then Stanley, and then Squidward, and finally Spongebob, who is the lightest, so he could just hop out of the top of the tank. The hard part was getting everyone in the pile.

"Sp-Spongebob, is-is this okay?" Stanley answered shakily, trying to keep his balance at the top of the pile.

"Yeah, that's good." Spongebob answered. "Okay, now Squidward, you get on top of Stanley, and from there, I'll climb on top of him, so that I can undo the latch and climb out."

Squidward climbed up on top of Stanley, and made it up, and was now close enough to reach the latch if he stood on his tippy-toes, which he was not going to do. That's where Spongebob comes in.

"Okay, come on Spongebob, quickly now!" Sandy encouraged him, staggering under the weight of everyone, particularly Patrick.

"Okay, here I come!" Spongebob said, stepping back to give himself a running start.

He ran up and climbed Sandy, Patrick, Stanley, and then Squidward. He nearly fell off Squidward's slippery head, but managed to grab onto the latch and climb out.

"It's good!" Spongebob called from outside, and let down a hand through the hatch for Squidward to grab.

He climbed out successfully, and Spongebob held on to his feet as he reached out for Stanley, but missed. There was a gust of air as the door swung open and revealed Jimmy and Suzanna.

"Oh no! Jimmy's back! Just stand still, and hopefully he won't notice." Spongebob said, looking up and nearly letting go of Squidward.

The all stood frozen as Jimmy walked through the door.

"Okay so here's my sponge. He's awesome." Jimmy said, and pulled the shirt off of the fish tank revealing his sponge holding a squid by the legs, and a leaning tower of creatures.

"Oh my god!" Jimmy exclaimed. "What the heck are a squirrel, a fish, a squid and a starfish doing in my fish tank?? Only the sponge is mine!"

"Um… is something wrong Jimmy?" Suzanna asked, backing away from the fish tank. "Cause if there is, I'm gonna go. Bye."

"Wait, Suzanna! Look, see, the sponge is cool, right? Right?" Jimmy said, pointing at Spongebob.

"Yeah, but I'll come back another day, when you have this all sorted out, okay? See you later." Suzanna walked out of the room and left the house.

"What's going on, Jimmy?" his mom called after speaking to Suzanna about what was going on in Jimmy's room.

"Yeah, there's like a squirrel and a starfish in his fish tank… He said only the sponge was his," Suzanna said to Jimmy's mom as she was leaving. "Just thought I'd let you know."

"Nothing mom!" Jimmy said and threw the shirt back on top of the tank, and found a few more shirts and threw them on.

Jimmy's mom came through the door.

"What's that big pile?" she said, pointing accusingly at the big fish tank covered in shirts.

"Oh that? That's a, uh, a… pile of books! And I accidentally threw some dirty laundry on it. I was just about to clean it up." Jimmy said, making up his story as he went along.

"Okay, but just go to bed really soon, alright? It's 9:45 already and I want to you to get a good night's sleep, okay?" his mom answered, walking out the door.

"'Kay mom! I'm getting ready for bed now!" Jimmy shouted.

"Good!" she called back.

Jimmy took off all the shirts from on top of the fish tank and tried to figure out was going on.

"Okay. I'm tired, so I'm gonna deal with you guys in the morning, okay?" Jimmy said, putting on his pajamas.

About ten minutes later, Jimmy had turned out the lights and was almost asleep in his bed.

When Spongebob was sure that Jimmy was sound asleep, they continued their procedure.

Squidward grabbed Stanley and pulled him up, and Squidward held onto Stanley's legs, who then grabbed for Sandy. She was strong enough to pull Patrick out of the tank, and get down from the bookshelf. They made it to the front door… but the problem is getting out of the house.


End file.
